


it doesn't matter (yes it does)

by lu_marii



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Amnesia, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Platonic Soulmates, Soulmates, Wild (Linked Universe) Angst, Wild centric, and hes baby, because ive only played botw lmao, chapter count is tentative lmao, discontinued for the time being, the sidlink is not the focus but like. they ARE engaged
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:15:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22242442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lu_marii/pseuds/lu_marii
Summary: He's going to get rid of his soulmarks, and he will not get attached to his soulmates in the meantime.(Or: the Links are soulmates, and Wild denies that he loves his family.)
Relationships: Link/Prince Sidon, Time & Wild (Linked Universe), Twilight & Wild (Linked Universe), Wild & Wind (Linked Universe)
Comments: 52
Kudos: 556





	1. gray marks

**Author's Note:**

> lucii is back on her soulmate bullshit lmao 
> 
> HEY welcome to my first LU fic! please dont hurt me if anyone (besides wild) is ooc or i get their story wrong - i try my best to NOT do that but i'm muy estupida and haven't played their games. i have no excuse for wild tho bc i have played botw so feel free to beat me up if i ruin him. let me know if mess it up pls and thank u!!
> 
> btw - later on in the story i will be taking some liberties with botw2 theories lmao ;)

“What is that?”   
  


Link blinks at the Old Man without a single flicker of comprehension in his eyes. Then, he tracks the Old Man’s point to his right forearm. 

Link raises his arm up for a better look. It’s a tattoo - a column of eight pictures (or maybe words) from his wrist to his elbow. He furrows his eyerows at it for a moment, then looks back up to the Old Man and shrugs. 

He doesn’t  _ think  _ they’re words. But the more he considers it, the more he realizes that he doesn’t remember what words look like. No - no, he does, he can imagine what a word looks like, and he knows what the letters are called, but the sounds they make elude him He gets the sense that the ones he (barely) remembers are not the same as the ones on the Sheikah Slate, and he wonders how, exactly, he can read the Slate if that’s the case. 

“It appears you’ve recieved your soulmarks,” The Old Man says. “Eight of them. You’re quite lucky to have so many, my boy!” 

In the shadow of the ne wly activated tower, the ink - if that’s what it is - seems to glow against his skin. He’s glad it’s on his right arm rather than his overly scarred left arm, so he can actually see them. 

“Soulmarks?” Link’s voice comes out strangled, and he has to repeat himself for the Old Man to understand. 

“Yes, the names of your soulmates.” The Old Man gestures for Link to show him his arm and he complies. “In their own handwriting and language. I must admit that I don’t quite recognize these scripts.”

Now that Link is really looking at them, he realizes he sort of recognizes a few of the letters. His mind strains to remember his own language’s script but when he concentrates, he thinks he spots a few familiar letters. There’s an L in one name. In another, there’s something like a backwards K. Some of the words look similar, like if you were to compare Hylian from now (how much has it changed in the century he’s been asleep?) with Hylian from a thousand years ago. Similar, yes, but unreadable to most modern Hylian speakers. 

Link says nothing, because he doesn’t know how to respond to that one. The Old Man doesn’t seem to mind much. 

“So don’t be alarmed if you feel pain that is not yours.” 

  
  
No, yeah, Link is alarmed by this. He’s having trouble with his voice, or his throat, or whatever has to do with that - he can’t remember - so he conveys this through the odd hand language he can remember speaking but can’t remember the name of. He doesn’t know if the Old Man speaks it, though, so he adds some dramatic facial expressions. 

The Old Man smiles warmly. “Don’t worry, you won’t recieve any lasting injuries. Bruises, at most. It’s merely a minor inconvenience.”

Link processes, comes to terms with it, and moves on. 

He’s got a paraglider to get and a world to save. 

* * *

  
  


“Oh, this motherfucker right  _ here-” _

“Legend, for the love of the Goddess-”

And then Link is punched in the face. 

He can do nothing but stare at the raging boy in front of him. Under any other circumstanes his sword (or bokoblin club, or whatever he picked up from a monster camp this morning) out. But something in him screams  _ don’t hurt him don’t hurt him don’t hurt him don’t hurt him  _ and he is nothing short of terrified by it. 

He has fought for a very long time to be nothing but him of now, and he does not appreciate feeling things that are not his. 

There is a rising bruise on the boy in front of him’s cheek. 

“What?” Is pretty much all Link manages to force out. 

A crowd of Kakariko’s inhabitants is starting to form around them. Link spots Cado in the mass, and gives him a meaningful look paired with a short hand gesture. Cado, who’s forced to Link to drill through Kakariko’s safety procedures more than once, shouts for the crowd to disperse. People go back to what they were doing (or at least pretend to) and Cado takes his place in front of Impa’s home, just a few houses down. His hand stays firmly on the hilt of his sword as he keeps a watchful eye. 

The raging boy’s now red cheek matches his cap and tunic quite nicely. The tips of his bangs are pink and Link really wants to keep looking at them, to reach out and touch them, against his better judgement. He’s never seen a Hylian with hair that color. 

The tallest of the boy’s group places a hand on his companion’s shoulder. This man’s got a mark on his cheek, too. Link is starting to have a sneaking suspicion of what’s going on here. He ignores it. He pushes it down and growls at it, the way he learned in the wild, when it tries to slither its way back up. 

“Legend, you need to calm down.”   
  


_ Legend -  _ odd name, but Link’s not very good at judging how weird things are - whips around, indignant. He flails his hands in the general direction of Link’s arm, the sleeve of which Link had pulled up while hauling wood across town. The wood is now scattered at his feet. (A new village is being built by a gaggle of Hylians and Zora in the ruins of the Lanayru Wetlands, and Kakariko is serving as something of a base of operations for it.) 

“But  _ Time,”  _ Legend whines, “he’s the one who-”

  
  
“I know.”

Another man, this one with a fur pelt on his shoulders, hooks his arms under Legend’s armpits and drags him back. Legend squawks and kicks but doesn’t manage to get himself free. 

There, on Fur Pelt’s cheek- 

By the Goddess. Link takes a quick head count of the group and finds eight. By the  _ Goddess. _

Link shakes his head and focuses on this man, Time, in front of him. Once again, he’s not entirely sure if that’s an odd name or not. 

“What do you want?” Link signs. Time appears surprised by this but not uncomprehending. Link can’t figure out if that’s a good thing or not. 

With a smile too fond for Link to trust, Time pulls up his sleeve and presents his soulmarks. 

Link, snarling, signs, “Stop it.” Then he draws his broadsword from the Sheikah Slate. He glances to the rest of the group for any sign of incoming violence, but they are watching Time carefully for his next move. Time is clearly surprised by Link’s actions, which sort of tracks, because typically when people find out they are soulmates they are excited. Link, however, is not typical. 

“Link,” Time says, even though Link never told these people his name, “this isn’t a trick. Your name is on my arm, and mine is on yours.”

  
Link saw it, of course. His name, in clear Hylian, the last of the eight names on Time’s arm. The seven others are the same incomprehensible, unidentifiable jargon that make Link’s own soulmarks. One of the ones present on Link’s arm is missing from Time’s - which, he figures, must be Time’s name. 

But that is not important. That does not matter. He doesn’t give a shit who’s name is on his arm - all he cares about is that he gets it  _ off. _

“Stop,” Link says despite the nonstop pain in his throat. 

Another of the group - a  _ child  _ \- runs forward, pulling up his sleeves. He skids to a stop just behind Time. 

“It’s true,” he pants, shoving his arm forward, “We really are soulmates.” 

Link doesn’t need to be convinced. He just needs to figure out how to end it. 

“Wind,” Time warns, but the boy doesn’t back off. 

Link hates this. 

He hates it because when he looks at the kid in front of him, his heart swells. When he looks at Legend, his mind screams  _ protect.  _ When he looks at Time, he feels vaguely -  _ fond _ . 

When he looks at these strangers, something says  _ family.  _

One of them, with hair falling over his headband, is cradling his cheek. Link’s face still hurts from Legend’s punch. 

Sighing, he puts his sword back in the Slate. 

“Fine,” he signs, because there’s no avoiding this, “Let’s talk.”   
  
That is not to say he particularly wants to. If he can find a way to cut his universal ties to this group, he will.

* * *

  
  


Twilight remembers this:

He remembers being a child when his left side - from nearly the top of his head to his ankle - exploded with burning pain. He remembers doubling over, howling and screaming bloody murder and waking his whole village. He remembers it finally ending after what felt like hours but was really minutes. He remembers looking to his arm and finding one of his marks had gone gray. And then, minutes later, he remembers it returning to its normal black.

His soulmate had died and come back to life. 

The mark stayed quiet until a few years later, when it turned gray again, then black in seconds. And, nearly everyday, it repeats. His soulmate has an awful habit of dying. At this point, Twilight rejoices when his eighth mark manages to stay black a full twenty four hours. He’s not the only one. One by one, Twilight met the other Heroes - one by one, he met his soulmates. Each one’s had the same experience with the same mark. 

( “Ah, shit, they died again!”   
  


“Judging by the pain in my stomach, I’m guessing poison or stabbing.”

“Poison berries, I think. I’ve felt this before.” 

_ “What?” _ )

After Warriors joined the group two months in, they were left missing their eighth soulmate for nearly half a year. If the pattern persisted, number eight would be another Hero with his own Hyrule. But the Goddess kept having them visit and revisit their own worlds, to the point they started to theorize that this other Link wasn’t ready for them yet - or maybe didn’t exist at all. Or maybe, just… dead. Dead and gone, with the black of their soulmarks being nothing but a fluke. 

That theory was mostly brought up by Twilight and Time when the others were asleep, or Legend when he was feeling particularly pessimistic. 

So, understandably, they were pretty excited when they arrived in a new Hyrule. 

As they travelled this new world’s roads (and learned quite quickly not to travel at night), Wind and Hyrule distracted themselves with increasingly wild theories involving this final soulmate. Twilight enjoyed listening to them, even if they were ridiculous. 

But contrary to their cheerful chatter was this world. 

The world was - it was in  _ ruins _ . Besides the odd blue towers and stone lumps scattered around the map, the few buildings they saw were nothing but crumbling ruins. Barely any people were on the roads, either. For a second, Twilight thought maybe there was no one left. But thankfully, they passed a traveller - who commented that  _ more  _ people were venturing out of their villages as of late. When pressed, she gave them a weird look and added, “You know, since Link defeated the Calamity…” When questioned further, she got tense and said, “Y’all don’t like bananas, right?” At their uncomprehending stares, she relaxed and informed them he was helping with the construction in her hometown of Kakariko. 

“Yeah, since the Calamity was defeated a year ago, Hyrule’s really started to thrive again.” A fond smile that spoke of her love for the land and her village overtook her face. “You may think it’s a bit quick, but that’s WueenZelda for you. She’s a real hardworker.” She continued to talk about the village and this Hyrule’s Zelda for more than a few minutes. But finally, she let them go. 

And they set out for Kakariko. 

They passed too many ruins in this too large and too empty world. Twilight thought he recognized some of them, which did something awful to his stomach. 

The first functional building they came across was Dueling Peaks stable, which had one of those odd glowing blue lumps across the path. They stayed the night there, and Twilight and Four asked after the new Hero. 

“He’s still up in Kakariko, last I heard,” the man said. “I swear, that kid’s wild. I’ve seen him do more than one thing that shoulda killed him, but it’s like death don’t exist when he’s around.”   
  
Four, looking stricken, had clapped a hand over his right arm like he hadn’t discussed this Link’s dying tendencies more than once. 

But, Twilight had to admit, hearing it in this Link’s own Hyrule felt different. It felt - real. More like it was actually something that had happened, is happening. Once more, Twilight felt sick to his stomach. 

Then the man had given them directions to Kakariko, and laughed when they balked at the words  _ day and a half journey.  _

Kakariko is small, but it is full of life. Travelers and merchants and wagons full of suppplies are constantly coming and going. Hylians roll up their sleeves and work sunrise to sunset on their little town. Not to mention the Inn’s fully booked with a construction team of Zora and Hylians. 

As they’re leaving a general store, Legend spots the Hero. Twilight knows this because Legend’s reaction, as always, is to make a scene. 

Despite Four and Twilight yelling after him, Legend punches the new hero square in the face in front of everyone. The new Hero (who is  _ alive,  _ which Twilight knew but didn’t fully believe) drops a bundle of wood that scatters everywhere. 

Twilight and Four are the first to catch up to Legend. Behind them, Hyrule is yelling for Time and Sky is sprinting - for once - to hopefully prevent the inevitable disaster. 

Legend is an idiot who’s forgotten how soulmates work. Twilight’s face hurts from New Link’s injury. He strains to read New Link’s marks, seeing as how they’re far away and made up of scripts that Twilight can’t read, for the most part. But he can tell they’re the same scripts that Twilight has been struggling to decipher since his own marks came in.

New Link matches his wild world. His hair, blonde and tangled halfway down his back, is decorated with sticks and leaves. Twilight thinks they’re still in his hair not for lack of care but for lack of noticing. Big blue eyes dart around, taking in everything as fast as he can. And, the cherry on top: His scars. 

He remembers how it felt to get those scars. He remembers the unbearable pain and the screaming until he thought he would never speak again. 

He also remembers his mark going gray. 

Twilight gets sick a lot in this Hyrule. He’s almost glad Hylia kept them from it for so long. 

When New Link barely manages to force out a  _ “What?”,  _ Twilight has to wonder if New Link’s screams actually  _ did  _ destroy his throat.

With a short gesture from New Link a guard shouts for the crowds to disperse. Then, Time finally appears. He’s clearly struggling with Legend so Twilight drags him back to the group, not without struggle.

New Link uses sign, apparently, which isn’t really surprising. Twilight wonders why scripts change between Hyrules but sign doesn’t, besides a few differences - but that’s a question for later. He seems very upset about this whole soulmate thing but, thankfully, eventually relents. 

He leads them to a little cliff off on the outskirts of the village. It’s got an odd stone structure, and is overlooking a swamp filled with still more ruins. 

But - and Twilight instantly feels better when he realizes this - there are people down there rebuilding it; It’s the consruction team that was filling up the Inn. 

New Link is quick to take charge of the conversation before it begins. His body language is calm but his hands are quick and forceful when he signs, “Why don’t your languages exist?” Twilight translates under his breath for Wind and Hyrule who’ve only just started learning sign with Time. 

The group turns to Sky. 

After a roll of his eyes, he explains the whole situation, and Twilight watches New Link carefully throughout the lengthy explanation of timelines and the Hero’s Spirit and all that bullshit. Amazingly, New Link keeps a pretty good poker face. 

Sky finishes off with their names, which ends with, “And of course, you’re the Hero of the Wild.”

Twilight raises his eyebrows at Sky. “The Wild? Really?” He’s not that surprised, even after only knowing New Link a few minutes. 

Sky shrugs, and the Master Sword moves with his shoulders. “It’s what she told me.” New Link’s gaze freezes on the Master Sword for a long moment. When he rips it away, he looks mildly ill. 

Despite that, he is perfectly calm when he signs, “Anything’s better than Link.”

Four squints suspiciously at New Link - or, Twilight supposes, Wild. “You’re commenting on that and not the alternate universe thing.” Wild waves his hand, and Twilight realizes that at some point his sleeve was pulled back down and covered with a bracer. 

“I’ve seen some weirder things. Anyway, I’m not coming with you.” There is a collective reeling back in the group, a unanimous  _ Huh? _

Time, with his typical worried dad look, says, “What do you mean, you’re not coming with us?”

“Exactly that.” Wild points out towards the Zora and Hylians hard at work in the swamp before he continues signing. “Still got stuff to do here. Then Hateno, and duties with Zora’s Domain and as Zelda’s knight. I don’t want to just up and leave, and I  _ can’t.” _

The word can’t is emphasized, signed with more force. 

Zelda’s knight, huh? And what’s that mean - duties in Zora’s Domain?

Something in Time’s body language changes, and Twilight suddenly gets the sense that he is about to drop The Bomb. He grits his teeth and prepares for the blast. 

“Listen, kid,” Time says, and Wild bristles, “Whatever put us together won’t let you stay. More than a few of us have tried.” Legend whistles and looks away; Wind looks at the ground awkwardly. “The first Switch will be the hardest. I understand you have responsibilities here, but we can’t change this.”

  
  
Wild snarls. “I don’t give a shit. I’m staying.” Then, he grabs the strange stone slate at his hips, taps at it, and disappears in a blue mist. 

  
“That’s a new one,” Four murmurs. “Where in the Hell did he-” Four breaks himself off with a long suffering sigh. They spend a few moments standing there in silence, confusion, and mild panic.

“He probably went to Zora’s Domain!” 

What in Hylia’s name-

A child peeks out from behind the stone structure. She ducks back behind the stone when the group’s eyes find her. Then slowly, very slowly she leans back out. Twilight struggles to shift from  _ panic  _ to  _ calm,  _ but he finds it’s always best to be calm around children. Especially when they look as nervous as this kid. He plasters on his most charming smile - without the fangs. 

“Hey, sweetheart. How long’ve you been behind there?” 

She rocks her heels back and forth nervously in that way kids who are in trouble tend to. “Not that long… And Koko didn’t mean to eavesdrop!” She turns frantic, flailing her hands out in front of her. “Koko was just visiting Mommy when all of you showed up and Koko got scared that Linky would get hurt so Koko - Koko thought that she would be his back up!”   
  
Twilight is torn between how heartwarming that is and the sudden realization that he’s standing in front of a bunch of graves. He settles on a little bit of both. 

“That’s no problem, sweetheart. Why do you think he went to Zora’s Domain?”

She thinks about it for a second. “Well, he always goes there - Daddy says that he’s really close friends with this Zora named Sidon! Like Mommy and Daddy.”    
  
Oh - duties in Zora’s Domain. There they are. (Warriors and Wind coo obnoxiously.)

“Thank you. You’ve been a big help,” Time says and the girl preens. “Do you think you could point us to Zora’s Domain?” 

She points across the swamp. “That way!” 

She is thanked with a bottle of fresh milk recently picked up from the general store and they set on their way. 

Their first stop, however, is not Zora’s Domain.  _ That way  _ and a point are very vague directions. Instead, they take the makeshift staircase down to the swamp (which creaks far too much under their weight) and ask for directions there. 

A Zora woman draws a map that isn’t too clear but the best they’ve got. “You’ll pass through a monster camp, but Link cleared it for us and there hasn’t been a blood moon in ages. Keep heading straight and you’ll find the pathway.” She hands them each something called shock elixirs and lets them know the journey is “just” two more days. Because this Hyrule is way too goddamn big. 

It’s two days of humidity and electrick shocks, but they make it there. 

Zora’s Domain is very sparkly and very blue. The sun hits it in a way that makes it look like diamond. When the group arrives, they spend quite a few minutes just  _ ooh _ ing and  _ ahh _ ing. 

Time talks with the guards and Twilight talks with some civilians while the others fan out to explore. Twilight gets nothing of note from the people he speaks with - just that everyone’s  _ really  _ bummed Wild’s with Prince Sidon which - Prince.  _ Prince?!  _ The boy with sticks in his hair is the talk of the town and dating a prince? Well, Twilight supposes that’s just what happens when you save the world. 

Time, judging by the shrug of his shoulders as he appears at Twilight’s side, didn’t get much either. 

Twilight groans, tiliting his head back and dragging his hands down his face.  _ Where is this kid? _


	2. memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link thinks he had a pet wolf and he thinks it may have been a shapeshifter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh god oh fuck im so glad people like this shit

Link thinks he had a pet wolf.

Link thinks he had a pet wolf and he thinks it may have been a shapeshifter. 

He thinks this because of a very foggy memory, one recently returned to him somewhere in between running away from Kakariko and appearing at Zora’s Domain and running full speed to Sidon.

_ (Link falls into the Princess’s arms and she cries his name. He hears Wolfie bark in the distance, somehow audible above the screams and the clanging of metal and the guardians. Link, though, is attuned to the sound of his best friend’s barks.) _

Whatever. It doesn’t matter now. That wolf is long dead, like all of Link’s old friends. 

_ (Wolfie appears above him with a bark. Link blinks and there is a man. Zelda asks who the man is and he does not answer but he is crying, apologizing- _

_ The battle rages on around them.) _

Sidon is next to him. His hand is in Link’s. This is what matters now. 

What matters now is Sidon. What matters now is Zelda. Kakariko, Hateno - Hylians, Rito, Gerudo, Goron. 

Hyrule. Keeping Hyrule safe. 

It does not matter if he thinks he recognizes someone from a century ago. It does not matter if he has soulmates. It does not matter if they can feel his pain. 

_ (He is a child, playing with Wolfie in Hateno. They take a break and he runs a hand over Wolfie’s forehead.  _

_ “What is this pattern in your fur?” He asks. Wolfie cocks his head and yaps.) _

It does not matter if his - if a stranger resembles his childhood pet. 

_ (“Wolfie,” Link gasps to the sobbing man with sudden realization. “You jerk. You - human.” _

_ “I’m sorry,” Wolfie says, “For what’s coming.” _

_ Link ignores him. He ignores Zelda’s pleas and ignores his pain and he stands. _

_ He has a duty. He has a destiny. He will protect the princess. He will save Hyrule.) _

“My sapphire,” Sidon says, wiping another tear from Link’s cheek, “Will you tell me what this is about?”

Fuck destiny. It was not his  _ destiny  _ to save Hyrule, it was not  _ Hylia’s will _ , it was a scared kid who was the only one able to do it and so it became his duty. It was his  _ duty _ . This world is his duty. And these soulmates are not of this world.

_ (There are too many guardians.  _

_ Link screams, and screams, and screams- _

_ And he dies.) _

Link, in response to Sidon, brings his left hand to the bracer on his right arm.  _ It doesn’t matter.  _ He can’t remember Wolfie’s human face, anyway. It couldn’t’ve been this Twilight guy, or the Wolf.

  
_ (Hylia still won’t talk to Zelda. She won’t talk to Link. He prays every night but it doesn’t work, doesn’t work,  _ doesn’t work _. _

_ Link lets out a groan of frustration and slams a hand on the table. The small figurine of the Goddess falls over and cracks. On the bed behind him, Wolfie huffs. Whether it’s at him or Hylia’s stubborness, Link doesn’t know. He  _ does  _ know that crying into a mass of friendly fur wouldn’t hurt.  _

_ But when he turns, there is a little pink ball curled up on Wolfie’s back. A bunny, ears and all. Wolfie seems unperturbed by this. He stares at Link in his usual all knowing way. The bunny makes an odd chirping noise that almost sounds like laughing.) _

“Oh, my sapphire, who?”

Link makes a vague gesture with his hands and shrugs. Sidon cocks his head. 

The lake in front of them glimmers in the sunlight. It’s hard to look at - almost blinding. He wonders if Mipha had any say in where Vah Ruta stayed after it was corrupted. Maybe she did, consciously or not. This seems like a place she would like. Or, he thinks so, based off his little memories of her. 

Sidon is still looking at him for an answer, head cocked. 

Link sighs and signs, “Hard to explain.” 

“Then I will try my best to understand.” 

Link struggles with the little he knows to explain the timelines, the multiple Links, the Hero’s Spirit. Sidon, for his part, blinks and gasps dramatically a lot. 

“I think I understand,” Sidon says, which really speaks for his ability to handle Link’s bullshit. “But then, why are you avoiding them?”

_ (“Who are you, friend?” Link asks, peering down at the bunny. The bunny looks at him like,  _ You idiot.  _ Link is not offended. Animals are far smarter than people. _

_ The bunny makes odd gestures in the air with his paws, ones that don’t look like normal bunny movements. They almost look like sign, but the bunny doesn’t have opposable thumbs, so it doesn’t quite work out.  _

_ Is Link really sitting here contemplating a bunny’s ability to use sign language?) _

“I’m not going with them,” Link signs, eyes firmly on the lake. 

“That’s not an answer.”

  
  
Link knew Sidon would say that. 

“Staying with you.”

  
  
“You and I both know that I am not capable of keeping you anywhere. You are wild, my love.” 

Link grabs Sidon’s arm. Sidon gives a little  _ “oof”  _ but lets him tug it over and point at Mipha’s name. 

“Ah. The power she gave you…”

“Yes.” 

  
  
Before, this would get awkward - it would turn into Link shaking and wishing he could completely forget and completely remember Mipha at the same time. It would turn into Sidon going silent as he remembers that  _ Oh, yeah, my sister kind of loved this guy.  _

But they’re way past that by now. Or, Link hopes so. 

“You - because they can feel-”

Link nods. He doesn’t want to hear it. 

Sidon levels a glare on Link. The leveling part involves a lot of stooping down, as is typical in their relationship. 

“Maybe,” Sidon says, and Link is already crossing his arms, “You should die a little less. Cut my sister some slack.”   
  
Something dark and ugly makes itself known deep in Link’s gut and he pushes it down with as much force as possible. Alone in the wild, it is okay to be angry - okay to slam your sword into innocent trees and throw bombs at rock faces and scream until you pass out. It is not okay, however, when you are with people. And it is horrible when you are with people you love. 

The Mipha card, though, always hurts. 

Link growls, and it is something feral and wild, reminiscient of the terrified Link fresh out of the Shrine who could barely remember how to speak. He does not like for Sidon to see this Link, so he stands. Like this - him standing and Sidon on the ground, legs in the water - Link is just a tad bit taller. 

Then Sidon stands, too. “My sapphire, I’m sorry, but you have to understand-”

Link leaves. Sidon does not call after him, because he has seen an emotional Link before and is not an idiot. Or, Sidon does not call after him, because he very much is an idiot. Link can’t decide. 

But he finds himself on Shatterback Point, and he finds himself with a dead lynel at his feet and Mipha’s Grace unusable for the rest of the day. 

“Hot damn.” 

Link startles and whips around, sword still in hand. Wind - the  _ kid -  _ blinks back at him.

“Kid,” Link signs, moving in front of the gruesome sight of the lynel, “What are you doing here? Dangerous. “

  
  
Wind watches his hands carefully. Link has to repeat himself a few times. But eventually, Wind gets it. He shrugs, very fakely nonchalant.    
  


“I followed you.” 

Link will not get upset. He will  _ not get upset.  _ Wind did nothing that Link himself wouldn’t do.

“What’s that thing?” Wind is pointing at the lynel, who’s head is currently a few feet away from his body. 

Link kicks it. “Lynel. Dangerous.” 

“Yeah, I got that.” Wind steps forward and Link steps back. Wind peers down at it with big, curious eyes. A slow smile overtakes his face before he says, “You’re a  _ badass.”  _

Link is hit with an indescribable fondness at how this kid sounds when he cusses - then, the sudden realization that Wind was watching the fight. He was ten feet from a lynel (a lynel that could have had Link nearly down in one hit). He finds that he really  _ is  _ upset - at the lynel, and at Wind for following him, and at whatever strange force made Wind decide to follow him here. Upset that Wind could have been hurt, that he could have  _ died.  _ So upset it hurts, it makes his hands clammy and his muscles tight, even though - he cares when people die, of course, he’s human. But he’s never been so viscerally angry, so  _ heart pounding breath shaky throat tight knees wobbly worried  _ for someone except for Sidon, for Zelda, for the champions. 

But Wind is a stranger. It does not matter what luminescent ink on their arms say, Wind is a stranger. Link will not let the tattoos affect how he feels about them; He will not get close to them. He will get rid of the stupid fucking marks and the strangers will not influence his feelings, they will not feel his pain. Not when the only thing between Hyrule and the apocalypse is his ability to get stuck in shitty situations and his tendency to come back to life. 

Link very dutifully ignores all these thoughts. 

“Your friends are here?” Link signs, then tugs a shock arrow out of a tree. 

Wind points down to Zora’s Domain. Link groans. He really doesn’t want them to interact with anyone he knows, especially Sidon. He pushes past Wind and starts on the way down, ignoring the waterfalls. He didn’t have it in him to brave the Zora armor today. 

They make it down and Wind follows him when he turns toward the lake, where he left Sidon. Hopefully, Sidon is still down there so they can reconcile away from prying eyes. Link glares down at Wind, for once in his life actually taller than someone and using it to his full advantage. 

“What are you doing?”

Wind gives him an innocent smile. “Following you.”   


  
“Go back to your friends.”

“Our friends are busy! I wanna meet your  _ boyfriend.”  _ Wind singsongs that last part. Link goes bright red. 

“Shut up,” he signs. Wind starts to sing a strange song about K-I-S-S-I-N-G in a tree. Link can not spell and does not understand. 

“No. Stop it.”

Wind does not relent. When Link takes a few more steps, and Wind follows like a puppy. 

“It’s either I meet Sidon or you come talk to our friends!”   
  


Link considers the very real possibility that Sidon is down in the main part of Zora’s Domain. He imagines Sidon saying all kinds of embarassing poetic things to the strangers. 

“Fine.”

  
  
He is letting these strangers pull him around way too much. 

* * *

It turns out Sidon  _ is  _ down there.  _ Shit. _

He is talking to Time, both of them looking very tall and very leader-y, although one is significantly taller than the other. Twilight and another one - Warriors? Link’s memory isn’t very good - are flanking Time.

Sidon falters when he catches Link’s eyes over Time’s shoulder, then spreads his arms wide.    
“My dear Link!” The trio turns.

Link summons everything he thinks he might have been at age fourteen, before the Calamity. He stands tall, chin up, the picture of an honorable knight with a duty and sticks in his hair. He walks straight past the strangers and to Sidon and signs, “We need to talk.”   
  
A few of the Zora women that Link remembers as being part of the Sidon fanclub gasp and whisper to each other, and Link realizes very suddenly this looks like an argument, a fight, and that would not bode well for the prince’s reputation. So he keeps his body language guarded but does everything he can to relax in the way he does when it is just Sidon, when it is not his soulmates-strangers-family and his fight with the concept of destiny and his struggle to  _ remember, just remember, why can’t you remember you failure- _

“Link,” Sidon whispers to avoid the fanclub’s gossip, “I apologize for earlier.” He pulls a stick out of Link’s hair. 

“Me too,” Link signs. This isn’t the end of the conversation but it is enough to return them to what they were before. “Why are you talking to them?”

“Because they are your soulmates, and I am your fiance. It is only polite,” Sidon says. Twilight gives a short, happy laugh at the word fiance. (Like a brother, Link thinks, then frantically pushes the thought away.)

“Wild,” Time says, and something in him goes  _ that’s me that’s me that’s my name that’s right  _ and he does not push it down because, truly, anything is better than the name of the Hero, “if you would just spend a week with us. Just a week, and if you don’t want to stay with us we will not force you.”

Sidon’s hand is on his back, comforting and warm and grounding. If he were someone else, he would call Sidon his anchor. But that’s not true - he is the Hero of the Wild, after all. 

_ You and I both know that I am not capable of keeping you anywhere. You are wild, my love. _

“Fine.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!!! comment if u liked to lmk <3

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading! please leave a comment to lmk what u think :)


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